Adapting a Foam-Plate Printmaking Unit for Two Students with IEPs
You teach fourth-grade art with 26 students and no aide. The class is starting a foam-plate printmaking unit. Students will incise a design into a foam plate, ink it with a brayer, burnish by hand, and pull four prints, then revise the plate after examining a proof. The standards ask students to create a multi-step print, explain the relief process, and improve the plate after seeing a proof. Two students have IEPs. Marcus has cerebral palsy affecting fine motor control in both hands and uses a wheelchair; he can grip a marker and make deliberate marks but cannot squeeze a brayer or sustain downward pressure. Priya has low vision, corrected to roughly 20/200, and needs enlarged, high-contrast materials. Your room has one sink, thirty minutes per class, and standard brayers, bench hooks, and wooden spoons.
1. Identify the specific barriers each student faces and propose adaptations that preserve the unit's standards.
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The barriers are different, so the adaptations should be too.
Marcus is blocked at three points: gripping and rotating the plate while carving, squeezing the brayer handle, and applying sustained burnishing pressure. Adaptations: tape the plate to the table with double-sided tape or set it on a non-slip mat so he can draw with one hand; offer a larger plate so his range of motion covers more of the surface; build up the brayer handle with foam tubing or a tennis-ball grip, or let him ink with a foam brush or a stamp pad, which produces a comparable relief print; replace hand burnishing with a wide-barrel baren, a rolling pin with a large handle, or a firm palm press. His work surface should be at wheelchair height.
Priya is blocked by low contrast, small scale, and fine registration. Adaptations: enlarge the plate to 6 by 9 inches or larger, use bold shapes rather than thin lines, print black ink on white paper, place a task lamp and a dark mat under the materials, provide a magnifier, and pre-mark registration corners with high-contrast tape.
None of these changes the standard. Every student still carves, inks, prints four times, and revises after a proof. These are adaptations to tools, not modifications of expectations.
2. How will you assess Marcus and Priya on the grade-level standards, and what evidence will you collect?
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I would keep the three standards fixed and vary only the response format.
For the multi-step print, the evidence is the set of four prints plus an observation checklist: did the student carve a plate, ink it, print, and pull a legible image? I would check off the steps as I circulate rather than infer them from the final print, because a legible print can hide who did the work and an uneven print can hide real learning.
For explaining the relief process, an oral explanation is equivalent to a written one. Marcus and Priya can tell me why the carved areas stay white, and I can record their words. Priya may need the question read aloud and enlarged.
For revision, I want the proof and the revised print side by side, plus one sentence or one spoken statement naming what changed. That artifact is the cleanest evidence of the third standard and it looks identical for every student in the room.
I would also photograph each stage and keep the photographs in the portfolio, and I would coordinate with the special education teacher and the occupational therapist so the accommodations in art match those used in the classroom. Documentation protects the student and shows that the grade reflects the standard rather than the accommodation.
3. Peer support is available but risky. How do you organize it so it helps rather than takes over?
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Peer help fails in two directions: the classmate does the art, or the student is publicly positioned as dependent. Both are avoidable with structure.
First, define roles narrowly and functionally. A "materials manager" fetches ink and paper, a "press assistant" holds the bench hook steady if asked, a "drying monitor" moves prints to the rack. None of these roles involves making marks on another student's plate, and the rule is stated to the whole class, not to Marcus alone: hands off other people's artwork.
Second, make the roles class-wide and rotating, so Marcus is sometimes the helper and never only the helped. Assign partners by table rather than by announced need.
Third, train the room in the adaptations. If the built-up brayer and the non-slip mat are simply the tools at that table, they stop being markers of difference. Universal design is quieter than accommodation announced from the front.
Fourth, let Marcus choose. He should decide whether he wants a partner at the press or wants to work alone slowly, and his choice should be respected without commentary.
Finally, watch the clock. Thirty minutes is short, and a rushed student will accept help he does not want. A second session for printing reduces that pressure more than any peer arrangement.